The sum of an arithmetic sequence is a concept used to find the total of all numbers in a specific arithmetic series. An arithmetic sequence is a series of numbers in which the difference between any two successive terms is constant. For example, in the sequence \(2, 4, 6, 8, \ldots\), the difference between each term is \(2\).
To calculate the sum of an arithmetic sequence, we use the formula:
- \( S_n = \frac{n(a_1 + a_n)}{2} \)
The formula effectively averages the first and last terms of the sequence and then multiplies by the number of terms \(n\) to get the total sum. This approach works because the sequence forms a predictable pattern.
For the exercise, the arithmetic sequence is \((2i + 10)\), with \(i\) ranging from \(1\) to \(30\). By substituting into the sum formula, we determined that the sum \(S_{30}\) is \(1230\). This means that adding all terms in the sequence results in the value \(1230\).